28 Women Scientists Whose Nobel Awards Were Given to Men

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28 Women Scientists Whose Nobel Awards Were Given to Men

By Chu E. - April 6, 2025

According to a 2019 study published in Nature, women make up only 3% of all Nobel Prize winners in science fields since the awards began in 1901. Out of 607 Nobel Prizes awarded in physics, chemistry, and medicine, women have won just 20. This striking gender gap highlights the systemic barriers women in science face. Many groundbreaking female scientists were passed over despite contributions that changed their fields forever.

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Lise Meitner: The Woman Who Split the Atom

28 Women Scientists Whose Nobel Awards Were Given to Men — Source: medium.com

Otto Hahn received the 1944 Nobel Prize for nuclear fission, but Lise Meitner provided the theoretical framework. Despite 48 nominations across Physics and Chemistry, she never won. Her Jewish heritage and refugee status during WWII hurt her chances. Later recognized with the Enrico Fermi Award, this brilliant physicist’s Nobel snub remains science history’s most glaring oversight. Scientists still reference her calculations on nuclear reactions in modern atomic research.

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Rosalind Franklin: DNA’s Forgotten Pioneer

Her X-ray diffraction images revealed DNA’s double-helix structure. Watson and Crick used her data without proper credit to win the 1962 Nobel Prize. Franklin died of cancer at 37, making her ineligible for the award. Male colleagues initially diminished her contributions. Today, scientists recognize her work as foundational to modern genetics, though she never saw this validation during her short life. Photo 51, her clearest DNA image, now stands as iconic in scientific history.

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Jocelyn Bell Burnell: Pulsar Discoverer

As a graduate student, she identified the first evidence of pulsars—rapidly rotating neutron stars. Her supervisor Antony Hewish and colleague Martin Ryle received the 1974 Physics Nobel instead. The scientific community protested this exclusion loudly. Bell Burnell later won the 2018 Breakthrough Prize and donated the $3 million to fund underrepresented physics students. Her discovery completely changed our understanding of what happens to massive stars after they explode as supernovae.

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Chien-Shiung Wu: The First Lady of Physics

Wu experimentally proved that the universe distinguishes between left and right in weak nuclear interactions. This revolutionary discovery earned the 1957 Physics Nobel for theorists Lee and Yang, but Wu was excluded. She performed the crucial experiment they couldn’t do. Her work changed fundamental understanding of particle physics, yet the experimental confirmation was deemed less important than the theory. Columbia University eventually named a research center after her remarkable scientific contributions.

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Esther Lederberg: Microbiology Mastermind

She discovered the lambda phage virus and developed replica plating, both essential to genetic research. Her husband Joshua shared the 1958 Nobel Prize with two colleagues while her contributions went unrecognized. Academic nepotism meant her work was often attributed to her husband. These techniques she pioneered still form the backbone of genetic research laboratories worldwide. Stanford University never granted her full professorship despite her revolutionary methods that transformed how scientists study bacterial genetics.

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Ida Noddack: Fission’s First Proponent

Noddack suggested nuclear fission in 1934, years before Hahn and Meitner. Scientists dismissed her idea initially. She also co-discovered the element rhenium. Nominated three times for Chemistry Nobels, she never won. Male physicists overlooked her insights completely. When Hahn received the 1944 award, her early prediction was forgotten in scientific history. The scientific community took five years to recognize her prediction after Hahn’s experiments proved fission was possible.

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Marietta Blau: Particle Detection Pioneer

Her photographic methods for detecting cosmic rays revolutionized particle physics. Cecil Powell later received the 1950 Physics Nobel for similar techniques. As a Jewish refugee during WWII, Blau lost her laboratory and academic standing. Einstein himself nominated her for a Nobel Prize. Her techniques revealed the existence of nuclear stars in atomic nuclei. The displacement from Austria during Nazi occupation permanently damaged her scientific career despite groundbreaking innovations in subatomic particle detection.

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Hertha Ayrton: Electric Arc Innovator

The first woman to present research to Britain’s Royal Society, Ayrton solved problems with electric arc lighting that stumped male engineers. She also invented fans that saved soldiers from poison gas in WWI trenches. The science establishment barred her from membership in scientific societies. Her practical solutions made electricity more reliable for everyday use. The British military deployed over 100,000 of her Ayrton Fans on the Western Front, saving countless lives from chlorine gas attacks.

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Katherine Johnson: NASA’s Human Computer

Johnson calculated flight trajectories for Mercury and Apollo missions, including the historic moon landing. No Nobel exists for mathematics, and physics prizes rarely honor applied work. NASA relied completely on her calculations before electronic computers were trusted. Her 2016 portrayal in “Hidden Figures” finally brought public recognition to her extraordinary mathematical mind. When astronaut John Glenn prepared for his historic orbit, he specifically requested that Johnson verify the computer calculations before he would fly.

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Gerty Cori: Metabolism Mapper

She co-discovered how the body stores and uses glucose—the Cori cycle. Though she shared the 1947 Nobel with her husband Carl, universities paid her less and gave her inferior positions. She became the first American woman to win a science Nobel. The Coris exemplify how even recognized women scientists faced discrimination in labs and academic appointments. Washington University denied her professorship until after her Nobel win, despite years of groundbreaking research on enzymes and carbohydrate metabolism.

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Rosalind Lee: MicroRNA Discoverer

As first author on the groundbreaking 1993 paper identifying microRNA, Lee established a new field in gene regulation. When the 2024 Nobel was awarded for this work, only her male colleagues received it. The three-recipient limit meant someone was excluded. Recent research shows women first authors are cited less than male counterparts in high-impact journals. Her exclusion represents one of the most recent examples of female scientists being overlooked despite leading critical research papers.

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Leta Stetter Hollingworth: Gender Equality Psychologist

Hollingworth conducted studies disproving myths about women’s supposed intellectual inferiority. Her research showed no scientific basis for gender discrimination. Psychology rarely wins Nobel recognition despite societal impact. She also pioneered education for gifted children. Her evidence-based approach to gender equality faced intense resistance from early 20th century academia. Her 1914 research directly contradicted prevailing notions that women experienced intellectual deficiencies during menstruation, which had been used to justify excluding women from education.

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Hedy Lamarr: Movie Star Inventor

Hollywood actress Lamarr co-invented frequency-hopping technology during WWII to prevent torpedo jamming. This innovation now underpins Bluetooth, WiFi, and GPS systems. The scientific community dismissed her because of her beauty and acting career. She received no compensation for her patent, which the military initially shelved. The technology later became worth billions. Only in 1997, when Lamarr was 82, did she receive official recognition from the Electronic Frontier Foundation for her technological contributions.

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Mildred Dresselhaus: Queen of Carbon

Her work on carbon nanomaterials underpinned later Nobel-winning graphene research. She pioneered electronic properties of materials at nanoscale. MIT’s first full female professor in engineering endured decades of discrimination. Her discoveries made possible countless electronic devices we use daily. The scientific establishment recognized her late in life with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Her research on carbon nanotubes and graphene allowed for smaller, faster electronic components in modern computers and smartphones.

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Emmy Noether: Mathematical Genius

Einstein called her the most important woman in mathematics history. Her theorem connecting symmetry to conservation laws forms the backbone of modern theoretical physics. German universities initially refused to pay her because of her gender. Mathematicians rank her work alongside Einstein’s in importance. There’s no Nobel Prize for mathematics, limiting her recognition opportunities. She taught for years without salary at the University of Göttingen until famous male mathematicians protested on her behalf.

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Barbara McClintock: Gene Jumping Pioneer

McClintock discovered “jumping genes” or transposons in the 1940s, decades before others caught up. Male colleagues dismissed her findings as impossible. She finally won the 1983 Nobel Prize—40 years late. She worked alone at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Her persistence through scientific ridicule exemplifies the extra burden women scientists carried. The scientific establishment only accepted her findings in the 1970s after molecular techniques confirmed what she had demonstrated through careful observation and reasoning.

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Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin: Molecular Structure Solver

Using X-ray crystallography, she determined the structures of penicillin, vitamin B12, and insulin. Though she won the 1964 Chemistry Nobel, her earlier exclusions reflected gender bias. She remains Britain’s only female Nobel science laureate. Churchill allowed her to keep working during pregnancy—considered revolutionary then. Her techniques revolutionized drug development worldwide. She spent 35 years solving insulin’s structure, an achievement that transformed diabetes treatment and revealed the molecular basis of protein function.

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Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin: Stellar Composition Finder

Payne proved that stars consist primarily of hydrogen and helium, contradicting scientific consensus. Male astronomers initially rejected her findings, then accepted them without proper credit. Harvard wouldn’t make her a professor until 1956. Her doctoral thesis was called “the most brilliant in astronomy.” She later became Harvard’s first female department chair. Her work completely transformed our understanding of cosmic composition and explained the fundamental building blocks of stars across the universe.

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Helen Taussig: Blue Baby Savior

Taussig developed the surgery that saved “blue babies” with congenital heart defects. The procedure bears her male colleagues’ names: the Blalock-Taussig shunt. Hospitals excluded her from operating rooms. She read lips after childhood deafness and faced constant skepticism. Thousands of children live today because of her innovation, which male surgeons initially thought impossible. Before her breakthrough, babies born with tetralogy of Fallot rarely survived to adulthood; now their life expectancy approaches normal.

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Ada Yonath: Ribosome Mapper

Though she shared the 2009 Chemistry Nobel for mapping ribosome structure, she faced years of skepticism. Male colleagues called her project “impossible” and “the work of dreamers.” She persisted through 25,000 failed experiments over two decades. Her discoveries enabled development of many modern antibiotics. She became Israel’s first female Nobel laureate. Yonath’s determination to continue despite ridicule from the scientific community ultimately revealed how cells build proteins—the machinery of all life.

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Vera Rubin: Dark Matter Detective

Source: georgetown.edu

Her observations of galaxy rotation provided the first strong evidence for dark matter, which comprises about 27% of the universe. The physics establishment never awarded her a Nobel despite transforming cosmology. She couldn’t access some telescopes because they lacked women’s restrooms. Now dark matter research forms a cornerstone of modern astrophysics. Rubin’s careful measurements in the 1970s revealed that galaxies spin so fast they should fly apart, proving invisible mass must hold them together.

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Lynn Margulis: Cell Evolution Theorist

Margulis proposed that mitochondria and chloroplasts originated as free-living bacteria that formed symbiotic relationships with cells. Scientific journals rejected her papers repeatedly. Biology textbooks now present her endosymbiotic theory as fundamental. She fought decades of scientific ridicule. The theory completely transformed understanding of how complex cells evolved on Earth. Her idea that cooperation rather than just competition drives evolution challenged biological orthodoxy. She continued defending her theory until fifteen journal rejections became scientific consensus.

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Sophie Germain: Mathematical Trailblazer

Living before Nobel Prizes existed, Germain advanced number theory and elasticity despite being barred from formal education. She initially used a male pseudonym to correspond with mathematicians. Her work on Fermat’s Last Theorem laid critical foundations. The vibration patterns she calculated (Chladni figures) helped understand structural resonance in engineering. During the French Revolution, she taught herself mathematics using books from her father’s library since women couldn’t attend university. Her elasticity work helped engineers build the Eiffel Tower.

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Annie Jump Cannon: Star Classifier Extraordinaire

Cannon personally classified nearly 350,000 stars, creating the stellar classification system still used today. Harvard paid her less than male janitors. She completed work that would have taken others a lifetime. Her stunning efficiency—classifying three stars per minute by spectra—allowed creation of the first comprehensive star catalog. Her sequence of spectral classes (O, B, A, F, G, K, M) remains standard in astronomy. Students still learn the mnemonic “Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me” to remember her classification system.

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Irène Joliot-Curie: Artificial Radioactivity Creator

Though she shared the 1935 Chemistry Nobel with her husband for discovering artificial radioactivity, her contributions were often overshadowed by her mother Marie’s fame. She continued working despite radiation exposure. The Joliot-Curies’ techniques created radioisotopes essential for medical treatments. She later became France’s first female government minister. Their discovery allowed the production of radioactive elements that didn’t exist in nature, creating tools for cancer treatment and medical imaging technology.

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Maria Goeppert Mayer: Nuclear Shell Theorist

Mayer developed the nuclear shell model explaining atomic nuclei structure, sharing the 1963 Physics Nobel. For years she worked without pay or proper academic position because of anti-nepotism rules. She remained only the second woman to win a Physics Nobel. Her discovery explained why certain numbers of protons and neutrons create especially stable atomic nuclei. She identified “magic numbers” (2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, 126) of particles that create unusually stable atoms, solving a fundamental puzzle in nuclear physics.

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Nettie Stevens: Sex Chromosome Discoverer

Stevens discovered that X and Y chromosomes determine biological sex, a fundamental genetic finding. Edmund Wilson published similar work simultaneously but received more credit. She made her breakthrough while working at Bryn Mawr College with limited resources. Her 1905 discovery forms the foundation of reproductive genetics. She died of breast cancer before receiving full recognition. Her meticulous studies of mealworm chromosomes revealed the XY/XX system that explains sex determination in humans and many other species.

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Katharine Burr Blodgett: Invisible Glass Creator

Blodgett invented non-reflective “invisible” glass by developing molecular coatings exactly one molecule thick. Her invention revolutionized cameras, microscopes, and eyeglasses. As General Electric’s first female scientist, she navigated a male-dominated industrial environment. Films in the 1930s and 1940s couldn’t have been made without her innovation, which reduced glare by 99%. Her 1938 breakthrough made possible everything from improved military periscopes during WWII to modern solar panels and smartphone displays.

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Conclusion

Science progresses through diverse perspectives. These 28 women represent countless others whose brilliance faced systemic barriers. Today, women earn about 53% of science degrees but hold only 28% of senior research positions. Real change requires recognizing these historical injustices while creating genuinely inclusive scientific institutions. The next generation of female scientists deserves better than footnotes in history—they deserve recognition equal to their contributions.

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